Happy New Year Everyone!
Hi Guys! We're sorry if we took awhile…but we hope that you would accept our Triple Treat for compensation this New Year – the tenth chapter of "Faye Valentine", the second chapter of "Are You…?", as well as the second chapter of "The Elementals"… We hope you'd enjoy!
Thoughts
Satomika: I think I just broke my promise when I said that the next chapter will say it all… I'm not sure when the truth will be known to everyone…I just hope you guys will continue supporting this fic, though.
THE ELEMENTALS
CHAPTER II
Fuuko scowled at Recca, but he, in turn grinned at her expression. "You going out, sis?" He asked.
Fuuko jerked back her arm away from his grasp, and answered back in a condescending manner. "Yeah. What's it to you, bro?"
Recca frowned. "That's not the proper way to respond to your elders, Fuuko. I'm asking you in a civilized manner, so please treat this conversation with respect. Now I'm gong to ask you again. Are you going out, sis?"
Fuuko gritted her teeth. If she would further remark rudely, she'd put her mother to shame. Why of course her mother educated her with good manners and proper conduct. So all Fuuko can do is sigh heavily and answer properly. "Yeah."
"You going to town?"
Fuuko looked at him skeptically before she shook her head sideways.
"Alright. Mind if I join you?"
"I don't. But maybe you will, seeing me naked." Fuuko smirked.
"Ha! You do that after we train." Recca responded her smirk with his own one.
Fuuko frowned. "You want answers, don't you?"
Recca looked at her squarely in the eye and said, "Of course. I know you do too, am I right?"
Fuuko just stared at him neither agreeing, nor disagreeing. Receiving a blank stare from her, Recca smiled playfully while saying, "Race me to the lake."
Unable to resist a challenge, even if she knows she is to win, Fuuko ran as fast as she can, beating her brother in his own little game.
"You know, I can always win in this game. Why do you even bother testing my ability?" Fuuko said as soon as the distance between them was at least a yard away.
"Recca smirked. "Just because you're fast and nimble sis, doesn't mean you can already beat me when we spar, with or without tricks." Recca said as he threw multiple smoke bombs towards his sister, and later sprang on her, aiming a right jab on Fuuko's stomach.
But before the jab hit her, Fuuko sprang up on her feet and did a somersault mid-air, kicked her brother at the back of his head, using the heel of her foot. Later, she hit the pressure points at the back of her brother using the 64 palms, 8 trigrams technique. She back-flipped behind him, landing gracefully on her feet three yards away from him, then said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You must have forgotten that I can sense the shift in the air pressure around me when you're gonna combat me close. You're underestimating me, brother."
"Why should I? You're my sister, and I know you. Half of your skills were based on mine, and your other techniques came from our eldest. I've battled him enough to recognize the flaws, and here you are trying to perfect what he can't." Recca said as he stood up to face her.
"True, brother dear. It just proves that I'm progressing. Just as the common town folks say, 'You won't succeed if you won't look back to where you grew and nurtured.' They're just basics, but everything falls to basics once you've analyzed and dissected complicated moves and tricks."
"Ah. You've truly progressed, sis. You've learned well from your mentors. But I should say, you depend too much on your special ability. Since you're at it, how about we take this spar a step higher?" Recca announced while wiping off a trickle of blood on one of the corners of his mouth.
Recca snapped his fingers and a warm feeling surrounded the two of them.
Fuuko's eyes widen. "Are you insane? With strong wind, the fire might spread out towards the other parts of the forest!"
Recca smirked. "Why? Afraid because you can't use your special ability?"
Fuuko gritted her teeth. "Of course not! I can take you with or without my special ability. I'm just concerned with the Neanderthal creatures here in the forest."
"Oh, pansy, my sister." Recca chuckled.
"What?! There's no doubt I'm a girl. Just because I care for such creatures, doesn't mean I am pansy, you coward, heartless fool!"
A sad smile graced Recca's lips. "You don't know the truth." He said, barely above a whisper.
"Truth?!" Fuuko's voice raised a notch higher than before. "How would I know the truth if you won't tell me? You keep everything from me and Ganko. And now you get angry when I learn the truth by myself. Why are you keeping things from us anyway? Why are you hiding the truth? Why… why is it that we keep on running and hiding? We don't live with the townspeople. We don't socialize much with them. We always live in the forest, no, in man-made caves. We're like away from civilization. Why can't we lead normal lives?" Fuuko blurted out, unable to suppress the questions that kept on running through her head for five years, unable to control the words that flew out of her lips. Tears now freely dribbled down the sides of her cheeks as she last voiced out the most hurtful question "Why are we being punished like this?"
As soon as Recca heard her last question, he cringed. He deviated the topic by saying, "you know, this fire I made is not the common fire we use to burn things. Fire is fire, but this is the fire I've created. Even if the strongest wind blows, it won't spread unless I order it too; it won't die even if the Niagara Falls continue to fall on it. This fire I've created is created with magic. It will most probably fan out when I'm in a weak condition. But anyway, since we're by the lake, and the sun is out, no clouds littering the sky, it's the perfect time to try it out at large. We can train, and we can enhance our moves, perfect our flaws. No one would suspect a thing when they se it from a distance. All they'll think of is why the sun is so strong now, because this fire is also a reflection of the sun's rays. However, this fire is as real as you and me. Fight me. Then we'll see if you're fit to the task you're given."
Fuuko angrily wiped the tears that stained her cheeks. Why did I even bother asking? He's the least person who'd tell me the truth, but sadly, the only one who can tell me the truth. Fuuko readied her stance, assuming the original position for the Gentle Fist Formation.
"That is the basic stance you used on me awhile ago, is it not? If I didn't know better, you're planning on permanently disabling me. Good thing, I've already activated seventy percent of my fire barrier after your heel made contact to the back of my skull. Unfortunately for you, your wind barrier is only activated thirty percent of my seventy percent, which led to first degree burns on your palms. Now you're using that stance against me again. You know those moves won't work on me once I've seen it."
Recca said as he stood his own Eight Trigrams Empty Palms stance. "Tell me sister, you've been wanting to know the truth, but what will you do once you know the truth? As far as I know, fighting out destiny will ruin lives, probably not ours, but others'. One more thing, you, knowing the truth won't help to bring back those people we hold dear. It won't bring back lives, won't bring back happiness, won't bring back peace. You're lucky not to know the truth, for if you have, it might probably break your mental capacity," finished Recca with a sardonic laugh.
Fuuko narrowed her eyes at the last comment. "Once again, you're underestimating me brother. You don't know me that much. You don't know I've changed over the years since finding about part of the truth you've been hiding from me. I'm fit being the warrior that you are, as well as our elder brother Domon. As for the truth, mother has warned me. She said that the truth might probably break me, but it made me curious all the more. Why? I've been figuring out the truth ever since I've learned you've been hiding something from me and Ganko. I've been searching for clues, trying to dig more of the mystery. I was so naïve back then that I thought going through the Shadows was something normal… something cool. But through my half-lidded eyes, every time we're in some place different, you've been creating the same cave we've been living though – same number of rooms, same decorations, that every time I wake up in the morning, I thought that I was only dreaming… the same dream that occurs once every two or three months.
"But I saw something that proved me wrong. While big brother Domon can control the earth to make our home, and also alter the landscapes that fits my last memory of the others, he destroys the trees. He doesn't know, of course, that after every time I train, I take a nap on top of one of the highest branches of my favorite tree. So every time we move, I have o pick out my favorite tree because my last favorite tree for another place is not there anymore. But that's not the point. I mean, aside from that, the altitude in the air is different from the last one. Also, when I try to visit town, I see unfamiliar things and unfamiliar people. The way they speak, the way they dress – everything is unfamiliar! It's like everything that had just happened is all a dream – nothing but a passing memory!" She shouted out all her insecurities with the hoarse voice she's been using ever since that morning. But this time, she didn't cry. And only anger and distrust build up inside her.
"Fuuko… I'm… we're sorry. We didn't mean to keep the truth from you. Please understand, we're just trying to protect you." Recca said weakly.
"Protect me? Protect me from what?" Fuuko said with disbelief. "I don't need protection, brother. I'm a warrior just like you. I'm strong just like you. So stop making up lies. I've had enough." Fuuko said, dropping her stance and walked away, not bothering to find out the answers she's been looking for. I'll just find the truth by myself, just like the way I found out that I'm not your real sister, and going through the Shadows is a teleportation spell. She activated her wind barrier on full blast and crossed the fire created by her dear brother.
To be Continued…
A/N: Hopefully, the next chapter will say it all… Glad to hear from you!
64 palms, 8 trigrams technique: technique performed by Byakugan users from the anime Naruto. In short, we don't own it. But most probably, we'll be using their techniques.
Gentle Fist Formation: we don't own it… it belongs to anime Naruto.
Eight Trigrams Empty Palms: technique used by Neji Hyuuga from anime Naruto.
---I should say, I'm quite fond of saying Fuuko this, Fuuko that and Recca this, and Recca that. It's like every start of the sentence, or paragraph, either of the names comes up. Forgive me…
---P.S.: Why don't you guys look up those techniques yourselves? They're pretty much short anyway, but I'm too lazy to tell you guys what these techniques do and what not. Thanks for your consideration! ^-^
